Youth

This theme comprises film excerpts that give a voice to Aboriginal youth – young people who dream of leaving, confronted by the disappearance of traditional values and the difficulty of living in a world made by non-Aboriginals, and who are, sometimes, condemned to a tragic fate.

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Format

Films can be available for viewing in either Macromedia Flash or QuickTime. Image and sound quality are similar for all these formats.

Flash: lets you view the film directly in the Web page without launching an external application. Requires the Flash plug-in (download for free at Macromedia Flash Player).

QuickTime (alternative format): requires QuickTime, version 7 or more recent (download for free at QuickTime).

Closed captions (CC)

Translation of the audio portion of a film into subtitles, for example, dialogue, narration, sound effects, etc. These captions let hearing-impaired viewers read what they cannot hear. Closed captions are available for a few films. To access them, you must select QuickTime (under Format) and With closed captions (under Accessibility).

Described video (DV)

A narrated description of a film's key visual elements to enable the vision-impaired to form a mental picture of what is happening on screen. Described video is available for a few films. To access them, you must select QuickTime (under Format) and With described video (under Accessibility).

Description
A Native Friendship Centre in Montreal provides a daytime refuge for homeless Aboriginal youth. Workshops to improve their chances of surviving city life focus on preparation for job interviews, nutritional information and budgeting. Counselling is also provided on an individual basis.

Questions
1. What are the factors, shown in the film, that contribute to the movement of Aboriginal people from their homes to urban centres?

2. What supports are in place to assist Aboriginal people in their transition from life on the reserve to life in the city? What additional supports still need to be offered?

Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin explores the plight of Aboriginal youth struggling to adapt to a large city, dislocated from traditional values and alienated from non-Aboriginal society. The Montreal Native Friendship Centre offers a supportive resource.